COVID-19 ongoing thread part 2

[mr friendly guy]

What cheek. The Trump campaign is now selling masks to protect against COVID emblazoned with MAGA.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5 ... ended-them

Trump campaign sells 2020 masks months after CDC recommended them
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 08/17/20 07:39 PM EDT

The Trump campaign on Monday launched the sale of branded face coverings, months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first recommended masks as a way to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The campaign store features a red mask that has the word "Trump" emblazoned on it, and a blue mask with "MAGA" printed on it, a reference to the president's campaign slogan. Each costs $15.

The masks provide supporters "with new ways to show their support for President Trump's re-election while taking safety precautions during the coronavirus outbreak," the campaign said in a press release.

Firstly, are these masks one time use only? Because $15 is quite steep if its not. I wonder if they are made in China like his other stuff.

Second, the Kyle Kulinsky show months ago was saying Trump could do this, energise his base and also help fight COVID at the same time. WaPo also published an opinion piece in July suggesting the same thing. This was an opportunity for him to make $$$ since he is so keen to tout his credentials as a businessman, but then I remembered this guy bankrupted several companies so...

[mr friendly guy]

What a shocker. Australia's PM claim that we will be manufacturing the Oxford vaccine if it works is a load of crud. According to the company actually manufacturing it, only a letter of intent was signed. We still might, but Morrison jumped the gun, and more reason why this guy is full of shit when it comes to COVID.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/aust ... ent-2020-8

[mr friendly guy]

In more propaganda from the Murdoch press, Australia should have followed the Swedish model.... because Sweden did better than the UK.
https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6183751345001

Sky News host Rowan Dean says the failure of Australia’s political class to take the Swedish COVID-19 example seriously is something our children and grandchildren will be “paying a very heavy price for”.

“I have been saying this for months now,” Mr Dean said.

“In fact I first said it on this show in early April that we should be following the Swedish example and practising voluntary social distancing, common sense restrictions on the size of crowds, no lockdown and keeping our economy intact”.

Some emerging reports seem to endorse the herd immunity strategy utilised by Sweden, which has now recorded far fewer deaths per capita than the United Kingdom while maintaining basic freedoms and a far milder recession.

Former Swedish State Epidemiologist Professor Johan Giesecke warned a major lockdown would simply destroy the economy and leave the population without herd immunity and permanently vulnerable to future COVID-19 outbreaks.

Lets see.
1. Lockdowns don't work according to Sky News. Its as bad as the NYT saying quarantines didn't work. LOL.

2.Very selective when comparing to the UK. I am not sure comparing to the UK is fair, since the UK dragged their feet before locking down, encouraged people to go to the Cheltnem races etc. Their PM ignored their own social distancing rules and shook hands with an infected patient and developed the illness himself.

When we compare to Sweden's neighbours, Sweden's response sucked. More deaths per capita while their economy tanked like their neighbours.

3. Which facts support "herd immunity?" The fact that antibodies are found in less than 70% of the population and Sweden's own modelling didn't predict that high a percentage?

[mr friendly guy]

https://www.9news.com.au/world/coronavi ... 3abc3a2489

After thinking COVID-19 was hoax, US man loses wife to coronavirus

By 9News Staff
9:02am Aug 25, 2020

The sad thing is, his wife apparently didn't have a strong opinion about whether COVID was a hoax. It was him that had the opinion and his actions that led to her death.

[aerius]

It's about time

DoJ press release
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departme ... e-resulted

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Department of Justice Requesting Data From Governors of States that Issued COVID-19 Orders that May Have Resulted in Deaths of Elderly Nursing Home Residents
Data will help inform whether the Department of Justice will initiate investigations under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) regarding New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan’s response to COVID-19 in public nursing homes

Today the Justice Department requested COVID-19 data from the governors of states that issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan required nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients to their vulnerable populations, often without adequate testing.

For example, on March 25, 2020, New York ordered: “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to [a nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. [Nursing homes] are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

“Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations,” said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband. “We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, New York has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States, with 32,592 victims, many of them elderly. New York’s death rate by population is the second highest in the country with 1,680 deaths per million people. New Jersey’s death rate by population is 1,733 deaths per million people – the highest in the nation. In contrast, Texas’s death rate by population is 380 deaths per million people; and Texas has just over 11,000 deaths, though its population is 50 percent larger than New York and has many more recorded cases of COVID-19 – 577,537 cases in Texas versus 430,885 cases in New York. Florida’s COVID-19 death rate is 480 deaths per million; with total deaths of 10,325 and a population slightly larger than New York.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is evaluating whether to initiate investigations under the federal “Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act” (CRIPA), which protects the civil rights of persons in state-run nursing homes, among others. The Civil Rights Division seeks to determine if the state orders requiring admission of COVID-19 patients to nursing homes is responsible for the deaths of nursing home residents.

On March 3, 2020, the Attorney General announced the Justice Department’s National Nursing Home Initiative. This is a comprehensive effort by the department, led by the Elder Justice Initiative and in strong partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that uses every available tool to pursue nursing homes that provide substandard care to their residents. As announced on April 10, 2020, the department is also investigating the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where COVID-19 has taken the lives of at least 76 residents. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal- ... -announced

The data requests and Soldiers’ Home investigation are not accusations of fault or wrongdoing by the states or any other individual or entity, and the department has not reached any conclusions about these matters.

I don't expect anyone important to get charged with anything. In other words, US justice system working as usual.

[Gandalf]

In some news relating to celebrities getting CoVID, evidently Usain Bolt has it. However, when NBC ran the story they used a picture of Kevin Hart.

[mr friendly guy]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-27/ ... l/12599302

Peninsula Health reviews coronavirus practices as healthcare union calls for increased COVID-19 infection control
Posted 2hhours ago

A recent coronavirus outbreak at a Melbourne hospital has seen hundreds of staff furloughed and highlights ongoing concerns about infection control in the sector, healthcare unions say.

Yesterday, Peninsula Health confirmed 618 staff had been sent home following a coronavirus outbreak at Frankston Hospital, in Melbourne's south-east.

There were 44 active cases among the health service's staff members yesterday, a decrease from at least 51 last week.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) a union with more than 2,500 members employed across the Peninsula Health service, said nurses had raised multiple, "often complex" concerns about the outbreak.

Victorian branch secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said the concerns included infection control practises and access to appropriate sizes of N95 masks, fit testing and fit checking.

Workers were also worried about staffing levels in COVID-19 and suspected COVID-19 wards, "challenging behaviour from aged care residents with dementia and COVID-19, and how to keep them safe as well as the staff themselves", Ms Fitzpatrick said.

Peninsula Health said it was working with a team of infection-prevention experts to review its coronavirus practices.

"The safety and wellbeing of our staff, our patients and our community is our utmost priority, and we are doing all we can to help slow the spread of this virus," Peninsula Health chief executive Felicity Topp said yesterday.

Ms Fitzpatrick said Peninsula Health needed to "be transparent" about the specific occupations of the furloughed staff.

Peninsula Health said Frankston Hospital wards affected by the outbreak included the Acute Medical Surgical Unit, the Surgical Short Stay Unit and the 5GN ward.

The inpatient ward in Frankston Hospital's paediatric department was also temporarily closed to admissions "due to an excessive demand on workforce".

Some patients have been transferred to other hospitals.

The health group has also been battling an outbreak at its Golf Links Road Rehabilitation Centre, where at least 17 patients had tested positive as of last week.

'Important lessons' to learn
The mass quarantining came a day after authorities revealed up to 80 per cent of Victorian healthcare workers with COVID-19 caught it at work, after previously estimating the figure to be less than 20 per cent.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) wants fit testing of N95 masks, which protect the user from airborne particles, to be made mandatory for dealing with coronavirus patients.

"In other industries where N95 masks are used, it usually is mandated that fit testing is required to make sure that you get an airtight seal, so that people who work in stonemasonry for example aren't contaminated with the dust and therefore inhale it into their lungs," Victorian AMA president Julian Rait told ABC Radio Melbourne.

The Victorian Government was conducting a fit-testing trial, but Dr Rait said concerns were raised months ago that the virus could be spread by airborne particles.

"There was evidence from way back as far as April, if not March, that suggested that protecting against the airborne spread of ... COVID-19 was a responsible step," he said.

"The AMA is bemused that it's taken so long to actually consider what we would've considered was a reasonable body of evidence a few months ago."

Ms Fitzpatrick said there were "important lessons" to learn from recent healthcare worker infection data.

"There are multiple and complex factors," she said.

"PPE training, donning and doffing safely, cohorting of positive patients, the space between patients, ventilation in older buildings, and how staff amenities are used, are all contributing to the transmission."

Peninsula Health is the major provider of healthcare services in the Mornington Peninsula, Frankston, and Kingston council areas.

On Wednesday, those local government areas had a combined total of more than 180 active cases.

The chief executive of Frankston Council, Phil Cantillon, said he was proud of the community.

"The sense of community is overwhelming, and the outpouring of support for each other and Peninsula Health staff has been moving to say the least," he said.

"While the Peninsula Health team have faced some challenges, their commitment to keeping our community safe and informed should be applauded."

DHHS is investigating how the outbreak spread at Frankston Hospital.

Maybe its time to break out Chinese style hazmat suits their medical staff had to wear during the height of the pandemic in Wuhan.

[bilateralrope]

FDA: Please, don’t drink hand sanitizer—even if it’s sold in… a beer can?

It can confuse people "into accidentally ingesting a potentially deadly product."
BETH MOLE - 8/28/2020, 9:35 AM

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued a warning to consumers about hand sanitizers that are flavored and packaged in food and drink containers, which increases the risk of people accidentally drinking them, particularly children.

According to the warning, the agency has found hand sanitizers with flavorings such as chocolate and raspberry, and in packaging including beer cans, water bottles, juice bottles, vodka bottles, and children’s snack pouches—some of which were marketed with cartoons aimed at children.

“I am increasingly concerned about hand sanitizer being packaged to appear to be consumable products, such as baby food or beverages,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement. “These products could confuse consumers into accidentally ingesting a potentially deadly product. It’s dangerous to add scents with food flavors to hand sanitizers which children could think smells like food, eat and get alcohol poisoning.”

Hahn went on to say that manufacturers should be “vigilant” about appropriate hand sanitizer packaging and that the FDA will monitor products and “take appropriate actions as needed.”

The market for hand sanitizers has been booming amid the coronavirus pandemic. Public health experts recommend using alcohol-based sanitizers (with ethanol or isopropyl alcohol at concentrations of 60 percent or higher) when soap and water are not available as part of appropriate hand hygiene.

But the increased demand and supply shortages from trusted manufacturers have apparently made way for unscrupulous and negligent producers. The FDA began warning in June of finding hand sanitizers with the toxic alcohol methanol, which is often associated with improperly distilled liquor. Since then, the agency has continued to identify dozens of methanol-containing products and has received mounting reports of consumers being poisoned, going blind, and even dying from the dangerous products.

Earlier this month, the FDA noted finding an additional toxic contaminant, 1-propanol, in some hand sanitizing products.

The FDA’s ever-expanding list of hand sanitizing products that consumers should not use now includes 165 entries. You can see the full list HERE. Below is a sampling of some of the labels of dangerous products identified by the FDA.

Pictures at the link. Calling it a beer can is not an exaggeration.

I'm impressed at companies finding new ways to screw up a simple product.

[madd0ct0r]

A can is pretty useless too - can't reseal it and can't pour it without touching so could only use it to refill multiple smaller sets and pouring from a can into a small bottle is hard.

Brewdog, like most UK distilleries switched production to sanitisers from drinkables. At least early on they had supply chain issues with containers so supplemented with the beer bottles they had - which they branded as refillers.

Image at https://www.insider.co.uk/news/brewdog- ... r-21806644

[mr friendly guy]

Don't most homeware stores sell hand gel containers? For those who don't want to waste plastic on disposable hand gels. Use one of those, and use then recycle the "beer can hand sanitiser."

[bilateralrope]

Coronavirus: Attendees at Donald Trump's nomination convention test positive for COVID-19

Four people at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in North Carolina this week tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said on Friday, even as Republicans played down the US health crisis in renominating US President Donald Trump.

The party's convention, which began with one day of events in Charlotte, North Carolina, despite the pandemic that has killed more than 180,000 Americans, ended on Thursday after four days of speeches lauding Trump.

Throughout, Republicans largely abandoned talk of the crisis as if it had abated, instead reminding voters of the robust economy that existed beforehand.

The official Twitter feed of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where Charlotte is located, said two convention attendees and two event support staff had tested positive and all were "immediately isolated".

Convention spokesman Michael Ahrens confirmed the four positive tests out of about 1000 administered.

"The RNC had diligent safety protocols in place, including testing all attendees before arriving in Charlotte, and again upon arrival," Ahrens said in a statement.

On Thursday night, Trump delivered remarks at the White House before a crowd of more than 1000 people seated in chairs inches apart, with little evidence of face masks being worn despite health experts' recommendations.

Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday exchanged at least one handshake while greeting supporters during convention activities, a scene that starkly contrasted to last week's nearly all-virtual Democratic convention.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris scrapped plans to travel to Wisconsin because of the coronavirus and instead delivered speeches in a mostly empty event center.

They criticised Trump for poor leadership, arguing that the President, who is trailing Biden in opinion polls ahead of the November 3 election, doesn't have a plan to address the crisis.

North Carolina Democrats condemned Republicans for hosting parts of the event in the state at all.

"This President has shown that even in the middle of a public health crisis, nothing is more important to him than a crowd - even if it means risking lives," Austin Cook, a spokesman for the state's Democratic Party, said in a statement.

Reuters

More than 1,000 people attending. They were supposedly each tested twice. But the number of tests is "about 1000". The math doesn't add up.

I wonder how many Covid positive people weren't tested.

[Zaune]

My sympathy for them is rather limited at this point. In fact if I thought they were the only ones who were going to suffer as a result I'd be inclined to laugh.

[mr friendly guy]

More victims of Trump disease, as more Americans drink bleach to treat COVID
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasre ... 23100c6748

Some Americans Are Tragically Still Drinking Bleach As A Coronavirus ‘Cure’
Nicholas Reimann
Nicholas ReimannForbes Staff

TOPLINE Despite months of warnings that it’s unsafe, some Americans are still attempting to self-treat for coronavirus by drinking bleach products, prompting Georgia officials to send out a warning that doing so could be fatal.

KEY FACTS
The Georgia Department of Public Health has sent out an alert warning against consuming chlorine dioxide, a bleaching product.

Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has been informed that the department is receiving reports about residents using chlorine dioxide to “treat” coronavirus.

The FDA has warned since April about the dangers of using chlorine dioxide products as a treatment for Covid-19.

Chlorine dioxide can lead to respiratory failure, liver failure and abnormal heart rhythms, among other potentially life-threatening conditions.

CRITICAL QUOTE
"Chlorine dioxide products have not been shown to be safe and effective for any use, including treatment of COVID-19,” the Georgia Department of Public Health said, adding, "Chlorine dioxide are the active ingredients in disinfectants and have additional industrial uses. They are not meant to be swallowed by people.”

Using household disinfectants to treat Covid-19 has become a troubling issue during the coronavirus pandemic, which hasn’t been helped by President Donald Trump suggesting unproven remedies. At an April news conference, Trump wrongly suggested injecting disinfectant as a potential treatment, leading the makers of Lysol to release a statement saying "under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route).” Trump also took a regimen of hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure against coronavirus, which was later shown to be ineffective against Covid-19.

BIG NUMBER
30. That’s how many calls about consuming household disinfectants reportedly went to the New York City poison control center in the hours after Trump made his comments. That’s more than twice the number of calls the poison control center handled on disinfectant consumption a year earlier.

TANGENT
A Florida family faces federal charges after prosecutors say they sold tens of thousands of bottles of “Miracle Mineral Solution,” a toxic bleach that was marketed as a cure for Covid-19.

FURTHER READING
Officials say some Georgians treat COVID with bleach-like cleaner (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

[Eulogy]

At a certain point it's less hard luck and more natural selection.

[mr friendly guy]

Remember when Trump asked his people to slow down testing? Well it seems like the new CDC testing guidelines agree with it.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/29/2140 ... bad-advice

Earlier this week, the US Centers for Disease Control updated its COVID-19 advice to recommend fewer people get tested for the virus. The agency’s previous advice urged tests for “all close contacts” of infected people, stressing the importance of contacts being “quickly identified and tested.” Now, it says people without symptoms “do not necessarily need a test,” even if they were directly exposed or attended a large gathering in a viral hotspot. It makes exceptions for “vulnerable individuals” and adds a vague instruction to follow local health officials — who, under normal circumstances, would look to the CDC for guidance.

It’s not clear why this change was made. But ultimately, it doesn’t really matter because here’s the important thing:

If it’s actually followed, the CDC’s advice will kill people.

And apparently Fauci was getting surgery and anaesthetised when they decided to change the testing guidelines. Classy.

[mr friendly guy]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/31/white-h ... -says.html

White House suppressed coronavirus reports and downplayed virus, House panel says
PUBLISHED MON, AUG 31 20206:28 PM EDTUPDATED MON, AUG 31 20208:26 PM EDT

As the White House coronavirus task force privately warned state officials that they faced dire outbreaks over the summer, top Trump administration officials publicly downplayed the threat of Covid-19, documents released Monday by the House Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus show.

The subcommittee published eight weeks of internal White House coronavirus reports, which are prepared by the task force and sent privately to governors. The newly published reports begin on June 23 and the most recent report that’s published is from Aug. 9. The White House has declined to make all the reports public.

“Rather than being straight with the American people and creating a national plan to fix the problem, the President and his enablers kept these alarming reports private while publicly downplaying the threat to millions of Americans,” subcommittee Chairman James Clyburn, D-S.C., said in a statement.

Put your hand up if you're surprised. Oh, according to John Hopkins prior to the pandemic, America was rated number one in dealing with pandemics.

[mr friendly guy]

Meet Trump's newest doctor to join the White House.

A neuro radiologist who believes in the herd immunity strategy.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronaviru ... story.html

Dr. Scott W. Atlas has argued that the science of mask wearing is uncertain, that children cannot pass on the coronavirus and that the role of the government is not to stamp out the virus but to protect its most vulnerable citizens as COVID-19 takes its course.

Ideas like these, both ideologically freighted and scientifically disputed, have propelled the radiologist and senior fellow at Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution into President Donald Trump’s White House, where he is pushing to reshape the administration’s response to the pandemic.

Trump has embraced Atlas, as has Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, even as he upsets the balance of power within the White House coronavirus task force with ideas that top government doctors and scientists like Anthony Fauci, Deborah Birx and Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, find misguided — even dangerous — according to people familiar with the task force’s deliberations.

That might be the point.

[PainRack]

........you know. I always thought radiologists were supposed to be smarter than surgeons.......

[mr friendly guy]

........you know. I always thought radiologists were supposed to be smarter than surgeons.......

Ha ha ha. Those that work in the medical field, at least in parts of Australia will find it funny.

[LadyTevar]

So.. There's now talk of a Vaccine, and people are already concerned about the 'rush' to get it out may have cut corners and made the vaccine dangerous.

I've yet to hear whether it's a Live Virus or Dead/Inactive Virus product.

[FireNexus]

So.. There's now talk of a Vaccine, and people are already concerned about the 'rush' to get it out may have cut corners and made the vaccine dangerous.

I've yet to hear whether it's a Live Virus or Dead/Inactive Virus product.

The most promising vaccines are either adenovirus vaccines or RNA vaccines. Basically both different ways to get some Covid protein-coding genes into some of your immune cells so they produce antigens on their surface.

[mr friendly guy]

Haven't paid much attention to vaccine news, however the David Pakman show has been talking about Trump pulling out an "October surprise" for the election related to COVID. He wonders whether Trump could pull out an Emergency use authorisation (EUA) for the vaccine like how it was done for hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and convalescent plasma. In other words its possible they skip full testing to say we got a vaccine.

[MKSheppard]

It's about time

DoJ press release
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departme ... e-resulted

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Department of Justice Requesting Data From Governors of States that Issued COVID-19 Orders that May Have Resulted in Deaths of Elderly Nursing Home Residents
Data will help inform whether the Department of Justice will initiate investigations under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) regarding New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan’s response to COVID-19 in public nursing homes

I don't expect anyone important to get charged with anything. In other words, US justice system working as usual.

Well, yes, we won't get Commisar Shep grade executions of important people, sadly enough; they'll sacrifice someone like the NY State health commissioner so that Comrade Cuomo doesn't suffer.

[FireNexus]

I got tested this morning. I have been careful. Social distancing, not socializing, basically only leaving the house to grocery shop and masking up the whole time. But all those measures are to restrict the virus. And without the proper controls from the top, they are not super effective. So here I am.

I have to say, though, the emotion of almost hoping, in a deep dark part of myself, that it turns out to be COVID so I can either die or get on with my life... It gives me a newfound sympathy for gay guys who got so stressed over HIV they went out trying to be infected. I don’t agree with them, and I think it’s an extreme and wrong reaction. But I get where they are emotionally in a way I never thought I would.

[mr friendly guy]

David Pakman brought up a good point. With Americans barred from entry to other countries, those who rely on drugs from Canada and Mexico are no longer able to do so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hblc81UzyhE

If you don't want to watch a youtube video, a quick google search shows CNN wrote a piece on this issue.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/31/amer ... index.html

Only 1.5% of American adults who take prescription medications buy their drugs abroad, according to a June analysis by researchers at the University of Florida Gainesville, based on a 2015-2017 National Health Interview Survey.
But that's still an estimated 2.3 million people.
Many medicines and medical services are cheaper in neighboring Canada and Mexico, thanks to price controls and the power of the US dollar. The difference is great enough that US insurer PEHP, which covers Utah's state employees, offers partially paid trips to Vancouver and Tijuana "to help you save money on your prescriptions." In popular Mexican resort towns like Cabo San Lucas on the West Coast, or Tulum on the East Coast, pharmacies, doctors and dentists targeting US clientele dot the main drag, their prices on bright display. And the difference between those prices and the costs of the same drugs at US pharmacies can mean life or death.